By IANS,
Kolkata : A Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Lok Sabha candidate Wednesday conducted a ritualistic worship of 50 cows in a bid to preserve and protect cattle.
The six-hour ritual started Wednesday morning with a yagna. Offerings were made to the cows, and later 2,000 poor people were treated to a community feast.
“It is very important that we start protecting and preserving cows from now. They supply us with milk, which is very crucial for the survival of kids and elderly people,” said Rahul Chakraborty, who is contesting from the Uluberia constituency in West Bengal’s Howrah district.
The initiative for the cow worship was taken by a group of locals working under the banner of Gomata Raksha Committee (Save Cow Committee).
He said though the country has a large number of cattle head, a lot of the animals were lost due to smuggling across the border with Bangladesh.
Denying that the entire programme was a political gimmick, Chakraborty said: “The dairy industry is dependent on cows. Apart from dairy, there are other industries like bio-fuel and fertilizer that are dependent on cows.”
“I am a moral supporter to the ‘Save Cow Committee’. Any conscious Indian citizen of India should start doing it from now before it is too late,” he added.